Advent Challenge '15

Friday, November 12, 2010

Movie: The Social Network

Being a fan of Facebook I was looking forward to seeing the movie 'The Social Network'. I'm also a fan of the movie's scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote scripts for the TV show, 'The West Wing'.

I'm not sure how much of it was actually true but it was a good yarn. It tells the story of the creation of Facebook intertwined with two lawsuits that were taken out against the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, after it had taken off across the world.

I got into Facebook in the middle of 2007. Why do I remember? I was stuck at home for two weeks in the July school holidays because my daughter had her tonsils out and had to stay at home to recover. No. 5 was six months old and I felt incredibly trapped and isolated being at home. Facebook provided easy access with the outside world. I could communicate with friends and see what they were up to. I met up with old friends from across the world and caught up with all their news. I could communicate easily with family members across Australia. I could be in 'conversations' with a community of people commenting on the same topic.

So while people often bag out Facebook, I think it probably helped me stay sane through a hard time in my life. And I love it that I've been able to reconnect and stay connected with a whole load of people I would otherwise have no contact with.

3 comments:

We've helped and been helped through facebook, including houseminders, babysitters, holiday accommodation...not to mention intangible things like prayer for and from friends. I see no downside to facebook that isn't there in all human relationships, and many good things as well.

I joined Facebook in mid 2007 too. When I moved from Perth to a farm three hours away in April 2008, I started relying heavily on Facebook to keep up with people and have done ever since. A lot of people are slack with keeping in touch so at least I have some sort of idea what's going on in friends' lives, and don't get shocked that they've had three kids since I left.